Margaret Jordan

  1963 – Coast Guard Air Station Houston Established Coast Guard Air Station Houston was commissioned 23 December 1963. Located on one acre at Ellington AFB, 17 miles SE of downtown Houston Texas. Two HH-52 helicopters, seven officer/pilots, and 18 enlisted mechanics/aircrewmen set up shop in a 24,000 square foot hangar built in 1942. An … Read more

1963 – Air Station Savannah Established The Coast Guard Air Station Savannah was commissioned in August of 1963 on what was then known as Hunter Air Force Base. On a grassy open space at the north end of the base were two new house trailers that would serve as office and shop space until a … Read more

1963 – The VC-4A Executive Transport Was Purchased The Coast Guard acquired a special ordered G-159 Gulfstream 1 executive transport from Grumman Aircraft Corporation on 19 March 1963. Designated VC-4A it was based out of National Airport in Washington, D.C. and used to provide air transportation on a demand basis, to the Secretary of Treasury … Read more

1963 – The First of 99 HH-52A Helicopters Entered Coast Guard Service The Coast Guard Aviation Plan of 1957 called for 79 medium range helicopters capable of proceeding offshore at a reasonable speed to a distance of 300 nautical miles, hovering for 20 minutes while picking up at least six survivors and then returning to … Read more

1962: Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles Established Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles is located at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The unit began as an aviation detachment in August 1962, with one HO4S helicopter from Air Station San Diego. Air Station Los Angeles was commissioned in November 1962 with two HO4S helicopters, nine … Read more

1962 – First Coast Guard Standardization Manual for Aircraft Operation Published The Manual Was for the HU-16 Albatross The post World War II fiscal retrenchment and the frugality of the Coast Guard resulted in an assortment of previously used aircraft obtained from other services. The operating procedures varied with the aircraft and the Air Station … Read more

1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis In October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. The United States armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and although not known at the time, Soviet field commanders in … Read more

1962 – Coast Guard Aviation Development Master Plan initiated The Aviation planning process utilized the 1960 Re-Evaluation of the Requirements of Coast Guard Aviation and the Roles and Mission Study of 1961 as the initial basis of the expanded role of Coast Guard aviation over the decades to come. Coast Guard Aviation had evolved into … Read more

  1961 – Coast Guard Roles and Mission Study Initiated John F. Kennedy had just become President of the United States and had appointed C. Douglas Dillon as Treasury Secretary and a fellow torpedo boat officer, James A. Reed, as Assistant Secretary with Coast Guard responsibilities. Both the President and Mr. Reed were interested in … Read more

1959 – First of the HC-130 Aircraft were Obtained As the C-130 proved successful with the Air Force, other branches of the service began taking a look at the new transport. The United States Coast Guard’s mission of long-range search and rescue and coastal patrols dictated the need for a new airplane and the C-130 … Read more